Volume 14, Issue 4, 2005

Effects of Piezoceramic Particle Addition on the Fracture Toughness Behaviour of CF/EP – Composites

Patrick Rosso¹*, T. Tanimoto², Klaus Friedrich¹

1Institut fuer Verbundwerkstoffe GmbH, Erwin-Schroedinger-Str. 58,
67663 Kaiserslautern, Germany,
2Department of Materials Science & Ceramic Technology, Shonan Institute of Technology (SIT), Tsujido Nishi-kaigan 1-1-25, Fujisawa, Kanagawa, 251-8511, Japan
E-mail: tanimoto@mate.shonan-it.ac.jp

(Author to whom correspondence should be addressed)
Tel.: +49-631-2017-201, Fax.: +49-631-2017-196, E-mail: rosso@ivw.uni-kl.de

(Received 12/04; accepted 9/05)

Abstract
In this study, the influence of piezoelectric ceramic particles (PZT) on a continuous carbon fibre (CF) reinforced epoxy was investigated. Therefore, unidirectional laminates were produced via film stacking in an autoclave. Mode-I interlaminar fracture toughness tests were carried out as well as tensile tests and short beam shear test to evaluate E-modulus and interlaminar shear strength (ILSS), respectively. The amount of PZT was varied and additional fracture surface analysis by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) clarified how the PZT affects the GIC of the particular laminates. It was found, that the addition of the PZT-particles caused a significant decrease in fracture toughness, whereas stiffness and ILSS were effected only marginally.
Keywords: Piezoelectric ceramics, fracture toughness, interlaminar properties, carbon fibre reinforced polymer